This invention relates to preceramic polymers and, more particularly, to silazane preceramic polymers for manufacturing ceramic carbonitride materials and ceramic nitride materials.
Preceramic polymers are commonly used for forming ceramic materials. For example, preceramic polymers are combined with a reinforcement material into a desired shape and pyrolyzed to form a ceramic matrix composite. In particular, silazane preceramic polymers are used to form carbide, nitride, or carbonitride ceramic matrices for uses that require thermal resistance and high temperature strength.
Although effective, conventional preceramic polymers have several drawbacks that may limit use. For example, manufacturing a preceramic polymer from a set of reactants is often a complex and expensive process. The process may include large numbers of reactants and reaction steps, and utilize elevated temperatures. Additionally, one or more of the reactants may be expensive or somewhat difficult to procure. Also, the resulting chemistry of the preceramic polymer must have a high ceramic yield such that most of the preceramic polymer converts into ceramic during pyrolysis. Incomplete conversion into ceramic because of volatile loss during pyrolysis, for example, may result in a low ceramic yield and unsuitable quality of the resultant ceramic.
Accordingly, there is a need for a preceramic polymer and method of manufacture that provides a simplified and economic manufacturing process. This invention addresses those needs while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of the prior art.